It was not the pretty football that Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea crave, but the Blues' performance on Saturday evening was good enough for a 2-0 win over West London rivals Fulham in the English Premier League.
Amid talks of crisis, after going four matches without a win, including two straight losses, the three points sees Chelsea go top of the Premier League table with Liverpool losing at home to Southampton.
Chelsea have ten points from five games, the same as Liverpool, but the London side have a better goal difference.
Jose Mourinho expectedly did not name Juan Mata in the starting XI, but the surprise was the playmaker did not even find a place in the matchday squad with David Luiz also facing the axe.
Mourinho's preferred No. 10 Oscar took up the role with Eden Hazard and Andre Schurrle either side of the Brazilian as Samuel Eto'o was again given the nod up front.
The first half was not all Chelsea, but there was that now familiar probing from their playmakers without any real end product.
Fulham, looking for their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1964, gave as good as they got with Steve Sidwell, one of many former Chelsea boys failing to get on top of a cross from Damien Duff, another former Blue.
Samuel Eto'o soon after at the other end had a golden opportunity to open the scoring but blazed over as both sides looked for that early goal.
Fulham then had the best opportunity of the half when Pajtim Kasami played through Darren Bent, who is at his best in one-on-one situations, could not find a way past Petr Cech, with the Chelsea goalkeeper making a fine save.
The former Chelsea players Sidwell and Scott Parker were certainly up for the match with the two central midfielders competing quite well with the Chelsea midfield.
Eto'o, still desperate for that elusive first goal, nearly broke through, cutting inside and striking with venom, but a deflection took the ball wide to the side netting.
Chelsea near the end of the first half piled on the pressure and nearly scored the perfect team goal. Some intricate play inside the box saw the ball finally landing to the oncoming Bransilav Ivanovic, who struck first time only to be denied by David Stockdale.
The ball just would not go in though as the Chelsea players walked into the dressing room with boos from the home fans ringing in their ears.
Mourinho's faith, though, in Oscar was rewarded seven minutes into the second half with the Brazilian at the right place at the right time to prod home the rebound after Stockdale had saved off Schurrle and Eto'o.
Fulham never really looked like equalizing as Chelsea looked to kill the game off by keeping the ball without really thinking too much about the end product.
The Blues finally did kill the game off in the 84th minute through the unlikeliest of sources. John Terry rose highest to knock down a header into the six-yard box with John Obi Mikel on hand to sweep home for his first ever goal in the Premier League.
